Access Denied to Encrypted Folders

Hi,

I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my password
back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used my
account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?

Thanks

try and take control of the folder. if u do not know how to do this ask
and i will tell you how.

WJB wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
> had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
> Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my password
> back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
> folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used my
> account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
>
> Thanks

Hi,

Encryption does not use your password, it uses an encryption certificate
created when you first encrypt a folder. I'm not sure what affect Norton360
may have had on the system when you changed the password, but simply doing
so should not have had any affect on accessing the encrypted folders. Have
you made any other changes to your user account?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"WJB" <> wrote in message
newsDDEB7C1-9766-4D59-A272-...
> Hi,
>
> I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
> had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
> Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my
> password
> back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
> folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used
> my
> account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
>
> Thanks

Thanks, Derik. I'm not sure I know what "take control of the folder means"?
I'm the administrator on this computer; doesn't this mean I have full control
over all its folders?

"Derik" wrote:

> try and take control of the folder. if u do not know how to do this ask
> and i will tell you how.
>
> WJB wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
> > had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
> > Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my password
> > back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
> > folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used my
> > account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
> >
> > Thanks
>

Thanks, Rick. Without actually knowing this, I did notice that after I
encrypted the folders, I was asked to backup an encryption certificate, which
I did. Later, I changed my password to the strong password after being
prompted by N360. When I couldn't open or unencrypt any file in an encrypted
folder, I changed my password back, thinking that that was the issue. I was
prompted again to backup the encryption key, which I backed up to a different
file. However, I have tried re-importing (restoring) back both encyrption
keys with no success.

Another question that comes to mind is: can you have multiple encryption
keys in effect with Windows selecting whichever one was used to enrypt a
particular folder? I'm concerned that I have encrypted some folders BEFORE
changing to the strong password, and some after, with an encryption key
backup in between.

Thanks for explaining this to me. However, I'm still stuck!

"Rick Rogers" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Encryption does not use your password, it uses an encryption certificate
> created when you first encrypt a folder. I'm not sure what affect Norton360
> may have had on the system when you changed the password, but simply doing
> so should not have had any affect on accessing the encrypted folders. Have
> you made any other changes to your user account?
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "WJB" <> wrote in message
> newsDDEB7C1-9766-4D59-A272-...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
> > had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
> > Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my
> > password
> > back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
> > folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used
> > my
> > account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
> >
> > Thanks
>
>

not necessarily. to take control of a folder means to make yourself the
creator/owner of it. and the creator/owner of a folder can deny the
administrator rights to the folder.

WJB wrote:
> Thanks, Derik. I'm not sure I know what "take control of the folder means"?
> I'm the administrator on this computer; doesn't this mean I have full control
> over all its folders?
>
> "Derik" wrote:
>
>> try and take control of the folder. if u do not know how to do this ask
>> and i will tell you how.
>>
>> WJB wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
>>> had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
>>> Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my password
>>> back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
>>> folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used my
>>> account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
>>>
>>> Thanks

Derik & Rick,

I took control of the files. I was the creator/owner on most of them anyway,
but I am now on all of them. However, I read in the on-line help that even
creator/owner rights won't make encrypted folders or files accessible without
the correct encryption key. So I again restored/imported all backed up pfx
files and checked the Cert manager to make sure they're there. However, still
no access. Important: When backing up and restoring the .pfx keys, I accepted
the defaults since I didn't really know any better to change anything.

I'm not sure I understand how this all works. In understand that the
encryption key is not related to the Windows account password, but Windows
did change it on me, I'm guessing that it happened when I changed my password
to a strong one. That is the only security-related action I've taken in the
last month. If Windows picks encryption keys on its own and changes them on
itw own, how can a user guarantee that files encrypted today are accessible
tomorrow?

One other thing. Before I changed the password, I made a full system backup.
Is there a way I can restore specific files only. The backup set is referred
to as a WindowsImageBackup and is made up of a couple of .vhd files and a
number of .xml files. Can I verify somehow that the files I'm looking for are
in that backup without risking a restore that overwrites my computer? If not,
is my only option to get a spare drive and replace it in my system then
restore to it so I can retrieve the files?

Finally, are there any good articles you can recommend for these two topics:
Encryption and Certificates, and Full System Backup and Restore. The online
help doesn't provide much information. For example, if I perform a full
system backup, is there a way I can create a minimal system bootable CD that
I can use to boot the system and restore the complete image backup?

Thank you both very much for your help.

"Derik" wrote:

> not necessarily. to take control of a folder means to make yourself the
> creator/owner of it. and the creator/owner of a folder can deny the
> administrator rights to the folder.
>
> WJB wrote:
> > Thanks, Derik. I'm not sure I know what "take control of the folder means"?
> > I'm the administrator on this computer; doesn't this mean I have full control
> > over all its folders?
> >
> > "Derik" wrote:
> >
> >> try and take control of the folder. if u do not know how to do this ask
> >> and i will tell you how.
> >>
> >> WJB wrote:
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my account
> >>> had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong one.
> >>> Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my password
> >>> back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt the
> >>> folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it used my
> >>> account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
> >>>
> >>> Thanks
>

WJB;536954 Wrote:
> Derik & Rick,
>
> I took control of the files. I was the creator/owner on most of them
> anyway,
> but I am now on all of them. However, I read in the on-line help that
> even
> creator/owner rights won't make encrypted folders or files accessible
> without
> the correct encryption key. So I again restored/imported all backed up
> pfx
> files and checked the Cert manager to make sure they're there. However,
> still
> no access. Important: When backing up and restoring the .pfx keys, I
> accepted
> the defaults since I didn't really know any better to change anything.
>
> I'm not sure I understand how this all works. In understand that the
> encryption key is not related to the Windows account password, but
> Windows
> did change it on me, I'm guessing that it happened when I changed my
> password
> to a strong one. That is the only security-related action I've taken in
> the
> last month. If Windows picks encryption keys on its own and changes
> them on
> itw own, how can a user guarantee that files encrypted today are
> accessible
> tomorrow?
>
> One other thing. Before I changed the password, I made a full system
> backup.
> Is there a way I can restore specific files only. The backup set is
> referred
> to as a WindowsImageBackup and is made up of a couple of .vhd files and
> a
> number of .xml files. Can I verify somehow that the files I'm looking
> for are
> in that backup without risking a restore that overwrites my computer?
> If not,
> is my only option to get a spare drive and replace it in my system then
> restore to it so I can retrieve the files?
>
> Finally, are there any good articles you can recommend for these two
> topics:
> Encryption and Certificates, and Full System Backup and Restore. The
> online
> help doesn't provide much information. For example, if I perform a full
> system backup, is there a way I can create a minimal system bootable CD
> that
> I can use to boot the system and restore the complete image backup?
>
> Thank you both very much for your help.
>

Hi WJB,

Here is a little trick that will give you full access to the encrypted
files again.

1. Right click on the encrytped files
2. Click Send To -> Compressed (zipped) Folder
3. Extract the files from the ZIP folder.

The extracted files will not be encrypted anymore, and you willl now
have full access to them again.

Shawn


--
brink

*There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.*
OM\")
*Please post feedback to help others.*

Hi,

Unfortunately, I've no idea what N360 might've done to your system. Just
changing the password should not have required that a new encryption
certificate be backed up. Are you certain N360 didn't have you create a new
account altogether? Vista does not change the key once created, so something
else is causing it to happen.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"WJB" <> wrote in message
news:9F74F10F-6EFA-4AD5-8214-...
> Thanks, Rick. Without actually knowing this, I did notice that after I
> encrypted the folders, I was asked to backup an encryption certificate,
> which
> I did. Later, I changed my password to the strong password after being
> prompted by N360. When I couldn't open or unencrypt any file in an
> encrypted
> folder, I changed my password back, thinking that that was the issue. I
> was
> prompted again to backup the encryption key, which I backed up to a
> different
> file. However, I have tried re-importing (restoring) back both encyrption
> keys with no success.
>
> Another question that comes to mind is: can you have multiple encryption
> keys in effect with Windows selecting whichever one was used to enrypt a
> particular folder? I'm concerned that I have encrypted some folders BEFORE
> changing to the strong password, and some after, with an encryption key
> backup in between.
>
> Thanks for explaining this to me. However, I'm still stuck!
>
> "Rick Rogers" wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Encryption does not use your password, it uses an encryption certificate
>> created when you first encrypt a folder. I'm not sure what affect
>> Norton360
>> may have had on the system when you changed the password, but simply
>> doing
>> so should not have had any affect on accessing the encrypted folders.
>> Have
>> you made any other changes to your user account?
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> "WJB" <> wrote in message
>> newsDDEB7C1-9766-4D59-A272-...
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I'm running Norton 360 on Vista Ultimate. N360 complained that my
>> > account
>> > had a weak password so I fixed it by changing my password to a strong
>> > one.
>> > Now I cannot access any of my encrypted folders. I tried changing my
>> > password
>> > back just to decrypt the folders, still no success. When I did encrypt
>> > the
>> > folders Vista didn't ask me for an encryption password so I assume it
>> > used
>> > my
>> > account password for this purpose. Any idea how I can resolve this?
>> >
>> > Thanks
>>
>>

Thanks, Brink. Didn't work, however. It displayed two dialog boxes:

1. Windows cannot create the Compressed (zipped) Folder here. Do you want it
to be placed on the desktop instead?

Answer Yes.

2. File not found or no read permission.

Doesn't it need to unencrypt the files before it can compress them?

"brink" wrote:

>
> WJB;536954 Wrote:
> > Derik & Rick,
> >
> > I took control of the files. I was the creator/owner on most of them
> > anyway,
> > but I am now on all of them. However, I read in the on-line help that
> > even
> > creator/owner rights won't make encrypted folders or files accessible
> > without
> > the correct encryption key. So I again restored/imported all backed up
> > pfx
> > files and checked the Cert manager to make sure they're there. However,
> > still
> > no access. Important: When backing up and restoring the .pfx keys, I
> > accepted
> > the defaults since I didn't really know any better to change anything.
> >
> > I'm not sure I understand how this all works. In understand that the
> > encryption key is not related to the Windows account password, but
> > Windows
> > did change it on me, I'm guessing that it happened when I changed my
> > password
> > to a strong one. That is the only security-related action I've taken in
> > the
> > last month. If Windows picks encryption keys on its own and changes
> > them on
> > itw own, how can a user guarantee that files encrypted today are
> > accessible
> > tomorrow?
> >
> > One other thing. Before I changed the password, I made a full system
> > backup.
> > Is there a way I can restore specific files only. The backup set is
> > referred
> > to as a WindowsImageBackup and is made up of a couple of .vhd files and
> > a
> > number of .xml files. Can I verify somehow that the files I'm looking
> > for are
> > in that backup without risking a restore that overwrites my computer?
> > If not,
> > is my only option to get a spare drive and replace it in my system then
> > restore to it so I can retrieve the files?
> >
> > Finally, are there any good articles you can recommend for these two
> > topics:
> > Encryption and Certificates, and Full System Backup and Restore. The
> > online
> > help doesn't provide much information. For example, if I perform a full
> > system backup, is there a way I can create a minimal system bootable CD
> > that
> > I can use to boot the system and restore the complete image backup?
> >
> > Thank you both very much for your help.
> >
>
> Hi WJB,
>
> Here is a little trick that will give you full access to the encrypted
> files again.
>
> 1. Right click on the encrytped files
> 2. Click Send To -> Compressed (zipped) Folder
> 3. Extract the files from the ZIP folder.
>
> The extracted files will not be encrypted anymore, and you willl now
> have full access to them again.
>
> Shawn
>
>
> --
> brink
>
> *There are no dumb questions, just the people that do not ask them.*
> OM\")
> *Please post feedback to help others.*
>